Beaufort County families whose children have reading disabilities can now receive local help.

Lowcountry Therapy Center, a Bluffton private practice that provides speech, occupational and physical therapy to area children, has expanded its services to offer assistance and videotherapy for struggling readers through the new Lowcountry Dyslexia Center, which opened in October.

Lowcountry Therapy Center owner Jessi Dolnik, a speech-language pathologist who moved to Hilton Head Island in 2008 and opened her own practice in June 2010, said she saw the need for the extra services in the area after consulting with local pediatricians this year.

“About six months ago, I was having a conversation with a pediatrician who told me families were leaving the area because there weren’t services here for children for dyslexia and no one entity that would diagnose it,” Dolnik said. “Finally we can provide that help. Kids can come here, and their families don’t have to uproot and leave.”

The clinic-based educational center offers on-site assessments and treatment for dyslexia from a staff of speech-language pathologists and assistants trained in structured language therapy, also referred to as the Orton-Gillingham approach. The center has also partnered with Lexercise, an online company that provides dyslexia evaluations and therapy, which will allow the staff to work with children who live too far away to attend therapy on a regular basis. Lexercise equips professional speech-language pathologists with web-based, best-practice therapy tools, using the Orton-Gillingham approach.

“We’re excited to be able to offer those solutions, too,” Dolnik said. “The therapy can be done through the Internet. With a website like Lexercise, a child can even be on vacation with their family and not miss any therapy.”

Lexercise co-founder Sandie Blackley said her company was glad to form the partnership.

“Lexercise is so delighted to be working with the highly-trained professionals at Lowcountry Therapy Dyslexia Center to make effective, research-backed therapy for dyslexia available to more children,” Blackley said. “Dyslexia affects 15 to 20 percent of children worldwide. When it goes unrecognized and untreated, it can lead to academic difficulties, stress, anxiety and other mental health problems, as well as underemployment.”

Dolnik said the Lowcountry Therapy Center, which is the only provider for pediatric speech, occupational, feeding and physical therapy in Beaufort County, sees 50 to 100 children a day. The dyslexia center is now on its fifth child.

Under the learning program, a child will complete one 50-minute in-person session a week and can work online with daily 10-15 minute games and exercises through Lexercise.

“These exercises target prefixes and suffixes and help the kids build a strong foundation of the language,” Dolnik said. “It’s one of the gold standards of dyslexia treatment, so the kids are getting the help they deserve.”

Dolnik said she plans to have a website for the dyslexia center up soon, but in the meantime, those interested in information could visit the therapy center’s Facebook page by searching “Lowcountry Therapy Center.” To learn more about the therapy center, visit www.lowcountrytherapycenter.com. For more information about Lexercise, go to www.lexercise.com.

Dolnik offered advice for people who think their child may have a learning disability and stressed they be proactive.

“You have to go with your gut,” she said. “Everything may turn out to be OK, and classroom recommendations or reading accommodations may work. But it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“If it’s a developmental disorder, you want to catch it as soon as possible.”